Fancy a chicken coop in your garden? It may be relatively easy and legal to take care of chickens in Singapore. But acquiring and caring for them is a whole other story
Keeping Silkie chickens as pets in Singapore is slowly becoming a rising trend—they are adorable to look at, intelligent (some say they are as smart as a three-year-old child) and fairly easy to care for.
Among our Tatler friends, Jazz Chong, the founder and owner of Ode to Art gallery and her architect husband, Edmund Ng, owns four Silkie chickens of their own while entrepreneur Stephanie Er owns Brahmas chickens.
With more Singaporeans expressing interest in keeping chickens as opposed to traditional pets like cats and dogs, it is also important to note that illegal breeding and abandonment of these beautiful creatures continue to remain high which makes it difficult for legitimate pet owners to acquire them.
Here, we look at the realities and legalities of making this decision as well as how you can best prepare yourself to house a chicken.
(Related: Are Silkie Chickens the New Trendy Pet to Have in Singapore?)
Are chickens really that difficult to maintain as pets?
Generally, many websites will tell you that keeping a chicken is fairly easy. They don't require much grooming and they simply need a clean environment for them to thrive.
However, the reality, as many chicken owners will tell you, is very different.
To find out more, we speak to Noel Tan, one of the founders of Clucking Good, a website that educates the public about keeping chickens as pets as well as sells food, accessories and supplements for chickens.
Tan and his team regularly put out guides about caring for chickens mainly because owners often do not have enough information and tend to be ill-equipped in handling these animals.
He said: "Chicken keeping and caring for chicks can be much more difficult than people expect due to their small, fragile sizes and their nutritional requirements which often go unmet."
He added that chickens actually need a lot of space. In Singapore, you are only allowed to keep chickens if you live on private residential property. Even then, you can only keep 10 chickens. Not to mention, you need to ensure that you and your neighbours are OK with the fact that chickens can be quite noisy creatures. In fact, many chickens have to be rehomed because of complaints from neighbours.
(Related: Tindle in Singapore: 6 Restaurants Where You Can Try This Plant-Based Chicken Alternative)
You also need to be prepared to be doing a lot of cleaning up. Tan mentions that there is a misconception when it comes to chickens being able to clean themselves. He said that most chickens will sand bathe. Sand bathing is when a chicken uses fine sand or dirt to keep their feathers clean and to get rid of mites, lice and other parasites.
This is often confused with self-cleaning. However, chickens do need to still be cleaned because they cannot be litter trained. This means that they will defecate where they please and will need to have their bedding changed regularly. According to Tan, many chicken owners opt to simply shower their pets.
